McQuade: The Prov VA Regional Office - A Mission of Service to Those Who Served

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Guest MINDSETTER™ E.J. McQuade, Director, Providence VA Regional Office

This month, Veterans in Rhode Island, and across America, mark two significant historical events. On January 25, 1945, allied forces won The Battle of the Bulge during World War Two. Twenty-three years later, on January 31, 1968 the Viet Cong launched what became known as the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. In these two January battles alone, nearly 100,000 Americans would become casualties. Some killed, others wounded, all bore the scars of war, some visible, some not so visible. Many returned to an uncertain future – the one constant, however, was VA, ready to support and serve these – and all Veterans.

A Great President - a Great Mission

VA was charged long ago to be there for these service men and women by Abraham Lincoln, when, he said we, as a Nation, have an obligation “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.” This is why VA exists. It’s why more than 200 of your neighbors, employed by VA here in the Providence Regional Office, come to work everyday. I assure you Abraham Lincoln’s words and the mission it lays out so clearly for us, are in our thoughts and hearts each and every day. It’s a responsibility we all take very seriously.

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Disability Benefits

Each year, the Providence VA Regional Office, at 380 Westminster Street, helps Veterans and their dependents, access some $230 million dollars in earned Veterans disability payments, to compensate them for injuries or illness incurred during service in the Armed Forces or pay a disability pension to low-income wartime veterans who cannot work due to nonservice-connected disabilities. It is my job to oversee a staff of 250 who personally meet with Veterans, or counsel them on the phone, to help them navigate the forms and gather the medical records needed to access these earned benefits. Still others rate, process and award these benefits. For more click here.

Job Training – Employment Skills Counseling

But we do so much more at the Providence Regional Office. It’s here that qualified Veterans who have a combined disability rating of at least 20% (or less than 20% if a serious handicap to employment is identified), can access jobs skill training and employment counseling to become successful in our workforce through our Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program, also commonly known as Chapter 31 benefits.

The VR&E program provides assistance through long-term services including educational benefits, on-the-job training, work-study, apprenticeships, or other job preparation programs to help Veterans get – and keep, a good job.

For some Rhode Island disabled Veterans the scars of service have left them unable to return to work. VR&E offers these Veterans access to Independent Living services. For more click here.

The VA Loan: Buy, Build, Re-Finance

The Providence Regional Office also helps with the purchase or refinancing of homes. We provide a home loan guaranty benefit and other housing-related programs to our Veterans so they can buy, build, repair, retain, or adapt a home for personal occupancy. Chances are there’s a home not far from yours financed with a VA-backed loan. For more click here.

The Providence VA Regional Office By The Numbers

In Rhode Island, VA expenditures total more than $391 million with compensation and disability pension benefits in excess of $149 million. Some 11,000 Rhode Island Veterans receive more than $8 million in disability compensation or pension benefits. More than 1,000 Rhode Island Veterans use education benefits and more than $117 million worth of Rhode Island homes were purchased using the VA mortgages. VA also provides life insurance to approximately 6,000 Rhode Islanders and VA provides more than 2,000 headstones, flags and grave markers for deceased Rhode Island Veterans.

Do You Qualify? Why Not Find Out?

Sadly, too few Rhode Island Veterans take advantage of these, and other, earned benefits. That’s why, in the coming months I will drill down a bit more and explain how your VA can be a resource for every Veteran in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. I invite you to visit our offices, sit with a member of our team and learn more about how we can help you access the benefits you earned in service to the United States of America. Visit us on-line at by clicking here or give us a call us at 1-800-827-1000 – let’s talk!

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E.J. McQuade is the Director of the VA Providence Regional Office (RO). Mr. McQuade served as Director of the Togus (ME) RO from February 2014 to July 2016. Mr. McQuade served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) as a Communications Officer from 1999-2005 and served in the USMC Reserve until 2012.

McQuade: The Prov VA Regional Office - A Mission of Service to Those Who Served

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